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Contexto Internacional

Print version ISSN 0102-8529On-line version ISSN 1982-0240

Abstract

PINHEIRO, Flávio Leão.Congress and foreign policy: a study on the influence of the Chilean Congress on the policy-making process of trade policy during the 1990's. Contexto int. [online]. 2008, vol.30, n.1, pp.89-139.
ISSN 0102-8529. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-85292008000100003.

Conventional wisdom tells us that foreign policy-making is, normally, restricted to the Executive, a trend especially noticeable when in regard to Latin America. The aim of this essay, therefore, is to question such assumption, even thought the Chilean Legislature has at its disposal week institutional capacity - ex post control. The argument is based on a thorough analysis of the Chilean Congress while dealing with trade policy, during the negotiations of the Economic Complementarity Agreements (ECA), undersigned by Chile during the 1990s, and on the discussions of tariff reductions, voted in 1991 and 1998. The research attempts to appoint the Legislative Branch as a relevant political actor, capable of influencing the policy-making of trade policy.